Candid
by Carbucketty
Summary: Gino, Anya and the rooftop garden of Ashford Academy. Lighthearted banter ensues.


**Yo. **The wall around the rooftop garden is obnoxiously high, so I took artistic liberties and made it lower so tiny little Anya could climb on it. Keep that in mind. Anyway, I was wanting to write something lighthearted and a tad bit bittersweet and I figured that Gino was the perfect character for _lighthearted_. This was fun. No real pairing, tbh.

* * *

"This is nice, isn't it?" Gino asked, giving Anya a slightly rough pat on the shoulder and causing her to mess up the picture she was trying to take.

"That was rather oafish." Anya commented, situating her phone again and taking a photograph of the flowers in the rooftop garden. "It is nice, I suppose. It's fairly amusing how this school seems to be more focused on festivities and appearances than it is on education, don't you think?"

Before Gino had the chance to answer, Anya snapped a picture of him.

"Recorded. Thank you."

"I wasn't ready!"

"I like candid shots."

"Well, I _don't_."

"It's my blog."

"It's my _face._"

Anya looked at Gino, but that was all she did. He wondered what expression she would be wearing at that moment if she were actually an emotive person. Happiness? Contentment? Annoyance? There were lots of questions Gino wanted to ask her and lots of answers he was sure he would not receive.

"You're looking uncharacteristically melancholy, all of a sudden." Anya noted, turning her attention back to her phone.

"Hmm?"

"Well, about a minute ago, you were smiling and now you're frowning."

"Oh."

"You don't frown a lot."

"You notice?"

Anya didn't respond immediately, obviously focused on whatever it was she was typing on her phone. "I should hope you don't think I'm some sort of simpleton," she said. "I take in information, just like everyone else."

Gino frowned again; had he offended her?

"You're frowning again."

"I didn't mean to offend you, Anya. Sometimes, I…" Gino trailed off-mid-sentence.

"Sometimes you…?" Anya persisted, actually looking away from her phone. "Finish your sentence."

"Sometimes I wonder what you're thinking and feeling."

"Hmm."

"But sometimes it's like a… fixation…" Gino admitted, a little embarrassed.

"Interesting." _Snap. _Another picture. "Recorded. Thank you."

"Again?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I've never seen you look like this before." Anya turned the screen towards Gino. "See?"

And he saw. He didn't know that his normally bright face was capable of looking so troubled. "I look like…"

"Your expression is similar to Suzaku's."

"Well, that's no good, is it?"

"I would imagine it's not good at all."

"Suzaku is unhappy all the time. He doesn't smile enough."

"Have you ever thought that maybe you smile too much?"

Of course, Gino had never thought that. He'd always assumed that his way of thinking was correct: unhappiness was unnecessary and everyone needed to smile all the time. It was as simple as that.

"I've been told that I never smile by lots of people, normally out of concern. So far, _you've _expressed no concern over that. It would seem that you're less fixated on my feelings and more fixated on Suzaku's," Anya mused, slowly walked to the edge of the garden and taking a picture of the view it presented of the campus. "Why doesn't it bother you that I don't smile? And why are you so concerned with Suzaku all the time?" she asked, quickly turning around to capture Gino's reaction: wide-eyed and confused. "Recorded. Thank you."

"Does that idea… upset you?"

"No. I just think your answers are bound to be interesting."

Gino had to think about Anya's questions, which he believed were worded unfairly. "… It's not that I don't worry about you. It's just that you look like someone who's used to not smiling. Suzaku looks like someone… who used to smile a lot," he explained.

"I'm glad you could answer my questions."

Gino shrugged. "I tried, anyway."

Anya turned away, tucking her phone into her pocket, and climbed on the wall surrounding the garden. She let her legs dangle in the air above all the students retreating to their dorm rooms to end another day.

"Hey, be careful!" Gino warned, without even thinking.

"Honestly, Gino."

"No, no,_ no_." Gino ran over to Anya, using a mockingly scolding tone to mask his real concern. "This is how stupid things happen and people die in freak accidents. You're not invincible."

"I'm fine."

"Better safe than sorry."

Anya, realizing that Gino wasn't going to let it go, slowly started to get up, but in a flash, her hand slipped.

Before she could even feel terrified of the fact that she was going to topple over the edge and grace the flawless Ashford Academy campus with her mangled body, strong arms were pulling her back into the garden.

"See?" Gino said, trying to mask his panic-stricken expression. "Stupid things happen."

"You were right," Anya admitted. Out of respect and appreciation, she decided not to take a picture of Gino's almost hilariously worried face. "You can set me down now."

"You can remove your arms from my neck."

Anya's eyes widened and she squirmed out of Gino's arms.

"Look at that! An expression other than complete indifference!" Gino laughed, clapping his hands. He was genuinely enthused and proud that he had evoked some sort of response.

Anya went back to her usual blank gaze. "A temporary lapse in personality."

"If that's what you call it," Gino joked, grinning from ear to ear.

_Snap. _"Recorded. Thank you."

Gino stopped his celebration abruptly. "_Again_?"

"You looked happy again. It deserved to be documented."

"I _really _don't like candid shots," Gino complained, reaching for Anya's phone.

Anya swiftly ducked under Gino's arm and spun behind him. She pressed her back against him as she saved the picture.

"Hey--- what?"

"Stay still."

"You're_ spry_!"

"I know. I want to keep this picture. You photograph nicely, even in candid shots."

"Well, thank you, Anya."

"Mmhmmm."

"Can I move now?"

"No."

Had Gino been permitted to move and talk to Anya face-to-face, he would have noticed the corners of her lips threatening to turn up in a smile.


End file.
